


075. Shade

by VivantaMortinto



Series: My Unofficial BDT [4]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-02
Updated: 2013-01-02
Packaged: 2017-11-23 10:14:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/621000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VivantaMortinto/pseuds/VivantaMortinto
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One night a year, she can visit him.  She can see him.  She can watch him sleep.  She can marvel over how much he’s grown, how handsome he’s become.  He doesn't know.  Maybe he suspects it; feels it, somehow, but he doesn't <i>know</i>.  He can’t.</p>
            </blockquote>





	075. Shade

**Author's Note:**

> For my own edification and amusement, I decided to take a 100 prompt challenge. Will I make it? Who knows, but "writing more" is a New Year's Resolution for me, so I'm giving it a shot!

The first night is the hardest. She sobs noiselessly as she gazes upon him, curled up in his bed, tightly clutching a stuffed toy. She thinks that maybe he’s too old for this, but she wouldn’t take it from him, even if she could.

One year, she finds him slumped over his desk, textbooks open in front of him, pen still gripped in his hand. She yearns to lift him, as she once did, and carry him to bed, place him down gently, and pull the covers over him. Kiss his cheek. She reaches out and caresses his forehead. Maybe he stirs. Maybe she imagines it.

Another year. Another night. She’s surprised to find out he isn’t alone. He’s draped across the muscular chest of a handsome young man who has stubble on his cheeks and, despite being asleep, a scowl on his face. She looks down and smiles, and thinks that maybe he’s too young for this. She hopes he knows she’s happy for him, regardless of what other people might say or think.

The time between nights isn’t time at all. It drags on forever; it’s over in an instant. She has trouble deciding which is true, isn’t sure if either is true, in any real sense. She waits to see him again.

This time, seeing him hurts her. If she still breathed, her breath would catch in her throat. His face cut, his arm in a cast, his chest bruised. He lays flat on his back, and doesn’t stir. She notices the handsome young man, seated next to the bed, slumped in sleep, but again, still scowling. She’s glad he isn’t alone. She’s glad he’s safe. She wonders what the young man’s name is.

She is in a dorm room now, she can tell from the bunk bed and the ugly posters on the walls. Her heart fills with pride as she looks at him, book open on his chest, arm flung over his head, mouth open. He snores, loudly. She looks around the room and frowns. It’s a mess.

He’s older now. She shouldn’t be surprised, but she is. His hair is thinning a bit on top, like her father, and there are faint lines on his forehead and around his lips, like her husband. There is a nearly empty bottle on the nightstand, and shards from a broken glass on the floor. She hopes he doesn’t cut his feet when he wakes up. The handsome young man, who wouldn't be so young anymore, is nowhere to be seen. She wonders why.

A hospital. She blinks back tears. His hair is thin and completely white, his skin is pale, spotted, sagging. He breathes slowly, a mask over his mouth. She won’t spend any more nights visiting him; she can feel it. His chest rises, falls, rises, falls, and doesn’t rise again. The machines surrounding his bed begin to beep frantically. In a few moments, the room will fill with people; all trying to bring him back. They won’t succeed. The tears cascade down her cheeks.

“Mom?”

She turns to face him, and grins through her tears. They rush together and embrace. He lifts her up and spins her, and they laugh. He puts her down and looks at himself in the bed, somber.

“What happens now?” he asks.

She takes his hand. “I don’t know. Let’s find out.”

**Author's Note:**

> Blink, and you miss it, but there is Sterek. If my strange interpretation of "Relationship" brought you here, I apologize. If it frustrated you, I apologize _again._


End file.
